By A lot of time has passed since our last post as this summer has been a busy one. A lot of work to do this summer, both for myself, and for Bologna. With Filippo Inzaghi in charge of his first pre-season at the club, there is a lot to learn both for him and the for the players.
Riccardo Bigon and his team have brought several new players to Bologna, and with this is mind, I’ll give my assessment of what the starting 11 will be when the season starts, assuming that Inzaghi will go for a 3-5-2 formation.
Lukasz Skorpuski is undoubtedly brought in to be the number one in goal. In front of him, Giancarlo Gonzalez is in my opinion our best centre back at the moment, and he will form the core of the defence alongside Filip Helander and one other player. Who that is, is not easy to say. Sebastien De Maio did not impress much last season, and he has been rumored to leave. Nehuen Paz and Arturo Calabresi are the other options, but neither of them have much experience. Another option is Ibrahim M’baye who has been utilized as a centre back during pre-season.
The central midfield should see Erick Pulgar and Andrea Poli as sure starters, whilst the last spot is up for grabs between Blerim Dzemaili, Godfred Donsah and Adam Nagy. Mattias Svanberg has impressed during pre-season is that role, but it is probably too soon for him to be a regular starter in Serie A.
The wide midfielders should see Mitchell Dijks compete with Ladislav Krejci on the left. The new, dutch acquisition is more defensive minded than the Czech international, who could see his stint at Bologna take an upward trajectory with Inzaghi in charge. On the opposite flank Federico Mattiello should be the first-choice. The former Atalanta player has played a lot on the left, but he is right-footed, and given the few suitable options on the right side, he should be making that position his.
Riccardo Orsolini is another player who could start in midfield. During the friendlies this summer, he has started in the central of midfield, and his creativity is highly useful there. He could also play on the flanks, and his versatility will be important during the season.
Up front Diego Falcinelli should be one of the two first-choice starters. Federico Santander will, hopefully, make the transition from a weaker league look easy, but with Rodrigo Palacio we have got a very good player if Santander does not turn out good. With the likes of Mattia Destro, Felipe Avenatti and Bruno Petkovic as well, we are well set up front.
We cannot expect Inzaghi to start with the same team every week during the season, as some will disappoint, while others will fight their way into the line-up, and injuries will occur. However, the above is my humble opinion on what our starting 11 should be when the season commences.
In addition to this, I do feel that the squad still needs a couple more additions to fully compete at the intended level. Another central defender is essential given that Inzaghi most likely will employ a defence of three, whilst a player that can replace Verdi’s output should also be on the list.
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Bologna recently announced their squad numbers for the upcoming season, and there was one particular omission that was quite interesting. No player has been handed the number 10 jersey. Destro has switched from it to number 22, the number which he had both at Siena and at Roma.
From this, one can only think/hope that we are going to get hold of another player this summer, a player which merits the number 10 jersey. Who that is remains to be seen.
Until next time.
Photo: Bologna FC
SempreBologna.com 
This makes sense.
I am still not sure whether our football market is over. I would still like to see a strong acquisition of a central defender and or a central forward. If we are able to sell Destro (and I hope #22 is a good sign for that), maybe we could even do both…
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We’ve been linked with several central defenders over the course of the summer, so hopefully we’ll see a new acquisition soon enough. I don’t know about Destro, he has been struggling for some time now, and the change of squad number is weird. If we were to sell him, why give him a number at all?
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The way I see the Destro case is that there might be two explenations:
1. Destro decided himself to change number in the hope to be luckier next year (!)
2. BFC told Destro to make room for a more representative #10
Number 2. may be linked to the fact that either this Summer or in January we are planning to buy someone else.
They have to give him a number and sign him up in any case as it doesn’t make sense to keep the most paid player out of all games. It’s clear that the moment to sell him it’s now, even if this means factoring in some capital loss.
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Well, #22 is what he had at the best times of his carreer, lets hope he finds that form because the potential is there.
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